hall near bottom of the stairs. It was then he saw a weapon at their feet. Like the knife, it was a favorite of the Mossad, or so he thought. He picked it up and examined it. He pocketed the weapon, walked outside and he heard the panicked calls from Ali. He raced up the stairs to the upper deck. When he got to the top, he saw Ali, doubled over. Sick. One of his men was on the deck facing down with his head barely attached to his body. The bodyguard’s blood had sprayed all over the deck. From the amount of blood on the deck it appeared that the assassin had drained every drop of blood from their bodies. He could see that his men had not died well. He walked around and was shocked at the brutality. No one spoke. The second bodyguard had an axe imbedded in his skull up to the handle. The same type of knife that killed the Prince was sticking out of his chest. The bodyguard was still sitting in the chair. Faisal leaned over and looked at the blood that was smeared on the man’s suit. It was obvious that the assassin tortured him briefly and wiped his knife off on his clothing before driving the axe into his skull. He had no doubt that the same knife had killed the Prince.
Screams suddenly broke the silence. Faisal ran to the stairs and looked down. Ali followed. Ahmed had Bridgette by the hair.
“This whore brought this upon us!” Ahmed screamed. Bridgette had her hands on Ahmed’s trying to release his grip on her hair.
“It is not possible. Let her go,” Faisal said calmly. Ahmed looked at him. Faisal and Ali walked down the stairs.
“You do not give the orders!”
“Let her go,” he said again. Ahmed relented. The girl fell to the ground. Faisal helped her up and into a chair on the deck.
In French he asked, “What did you see?” She paused and looked up at him.
“A man. A man in a little boat. He killed everyone,” she said, looking around nervously.
“One man?” Ahmed said glaring at Faisal.
“What did he look like? Tall? Short? Did you hear him speak?” Faisal asked her. Ali paced behind Bridgette.
“He was tall like you. He had on paint. I saw him through the window. That was all,” she said. She was nervously picking at her hands. Her hair was in her face and her eye make-up was running down her face. She was babbling.
Faisal took a breath and removed the weapon he had found in the hallway from his pocket.
In Arabic, Ahmad demanded, “What’s that?”
“It’s a Beretta Px4 Storm. The favorite weapon of the Mossad, but they also use many weapons. I wouldn’t jump to a conclusion too quickly,” Faisal answered.
Ahmed was clenching his fists. He didn’t want his emotions to show, but he was seething. “They will pay for this,” he said to himself
“What do we do with her?” Ali asked. Ahmed looked at her. Bridgette had no idea what they were saying. She thought they spoke an ugly language.
‘Kill her,” Ahmed ordered in Arabic. Without hesitation, Ali grabbed her from behind and choked the life out of her. Faisal turned around. He could not watch. Another innocent. Ali tossed her body over the side.
“I must inform the Prince’s son. We need to clean this up,” Ahmed said. “I will get to the bottom of this. There will be retribution.”
“I don’t think this was the Israelis,” Faisal said.
Ahmed was normally a planner. A thinker. He had let his considerable intellect be swallowed by anger. He could no longer control it.
“I don’t care what you think! It is obvious who did this!” Ahmed screamed.
★★★
From the patio of the Majestic Barriere, the sniper watched a man emerge from the cool salt water and calmly walk up the beach to his room.
The assassin entered and closed the door and stood in the dark room. The air conditioning gave